Over the past four years, there are not many states that can say they have produced college football talent the way the state of Florida has. Between Florida, Florida State, and Miami, they have been factories for NFL talent. Now you can add the rest of the Florida schools to that list.
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In 2018, the state of Florida had some ups and downs for their college football programs. Central Florida went undefeated during the regular season again, the Gators came back from a poor showing in 2017 to win 10 games, the Hurricanes went in the opposite direction, and the Seminoles' bowl streak ended. But even the worst teams in the state had players show out. So if we were to build an all-star team for the Sunshine State, what would that look like?
It isn't exactly easy to compare players at the same position when they play in completely different conferences and decide who had a better season. How does 800 yards in Conference USA compare to 600 in the ACC? Or 100 tackles in the AAC to 75 in the SEC? Well, I decided to go case-by-case and look at all of the numbers for each player at each position, and this is the team I came up with.
Offense
Quarterback
McKenzie Milton, UCF
2018 Stats: 171-for-289, 59.2 percent passing, 2,663 passing yards, 25 passing touchdowns, 6 interceptions; 79 carries, 307 yards, 9 rushing touchdowns.
Running Backs
Devin Singletary, FAU
@ChrisCuenca11 pick him up!! RT @JReidNFL: I have my first draft crush of the year. FAU RB Devin Singletary is legit. Vision, contact balance, footwork, and elusiveness are the traits that I look for in RBs.
He has them all. pic.twitter.com/n5pwLyMsLF
— Michael Martinez (@milehighcook) January 6, 2019
2018 Stats: 261 carries, 1,348 yards, 5.2 yards per carry, 22 touchdowns
Travis Homer, Miami
travis homer with a beast mode run pic.twitter.com/1sQ9zAMP1Z
— Eric (@EIizondo) October 6, 2018
2018 Stats: 164 carries, 985 yards, 6.0 yards per carry, 4 touchdowns; 19 catches, 184 yards
This one was close because Homer had less yards and touchdowns than a few guys. However, he also was facing tougher defenses than players from other schools that only 100 yards difference on the season wasn't enough to beat a guy who was playing better defensive fronts every week.
Greg McCrae had a little over 100 yards more than Homer on the season, but each of them played Pittsburgh and Homer had the much better game. Homer rushed for 168 yards and a touchdown on eight carries against the Panthers, while McCrae only rushed for 64 yards on 10 carries.
Wide Receivers
Gabriel Davis, UCF
UCF wide receiver Gabriel Davis' 32-yard touchdown catch in all its glory. #UCF pic.twitter.com/ntdFNp6hyR
— Christopher Boan (@cgboan) January 1, 2019
2018 Stats: 53 catches, 815 yards, 7 touchdowns
Jovon Durante, FAU
This one ain't quite over yet...
Chris Robison throws a STRIKE to Jovon Durante, 55 yards for a quick response.
@FAU_Football trails 41-38 with 3:38 to play. pic.twitter.com/3Ywbnubnkn
— CBS Sports Network (@CBSSportsNet) November 16, 2018
2018 Stats: 65 catches, 873 yards, 5 touchdowns
Nyqwan Murray, FSU
Nyqwan Murray 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Florida State takes the lead pic.twitter.com/HQpqfyu7s6
— NCAAF Nation (@NCAAFNation247) September 29, 2018
2018 Stats: 54 catches, 744 yards, 3 touchdowns
Tight End
Harrison Bryant, FAU
https://twitter.com/ftbeard_17/status/1063272143142567936
2018 Stats: 45 catches, 662 yards, 4 touchdowns
This one is weird because a player like Miami's Brevin Jordan is so talented and I think he is one of the most talented tight ends in the country, but Bryant just put up huge numbers compared to Jordan. If the yardage was a little closer, I would have put Jordan in this spot, but Bryant had well over double the yards, over double-digit more catches, and the same amount of scores.
Offensive Line
Jawaan Taylor, Florida
Martez Ivey, Florida
Jordan Johnson, UCF
Tyler Gauthier, Miami
Tyree St. Louis, Miami
Defense
Defensive Line
These are in no particular order because they were all dominant throughout the season. I also have five because I felt like it and if I am building a team, all five of these guys will be on the field.
Brian Burns, FSU
Brian Burns spin move on this sack 🤤🤤 pic.twitter.com/8BPmJ9XQMx
— Greg (@GregArmstrong_) January 3, 2019
2018 Stats: 52 tackles, 15.5 TFL, 10 sacks, 3 forced fumbles
Gerald Willis III, Miami
https://twitter.com/PedroGoLa/status/1068887327206981632
2018 Stats: 59 tackles, 18 TFL, 4 sacks
Jabari Zuniga, Florida
https://twitter.com/DLineVids/status/913069655404642304
2018 Stats: 45 tackles, 11 TFL, 6.5 sacks
Joe Jackson, Miami
Thank you, Joe Jackson!
Forever a Miami Hurricane. pic.twitter.com/fzU3k8X9i3
— GO ‘CANES! (@83_87_89_91_01) January 3, 2019
2018 Stats: 47 tackles, 14.5 TFL, 8.5 sacks, 1 interception, 2 forced fumbles, 1 touchdown
Jachai Polite, Florida
Potential Packers’ Draft Prospect👇🏼
Jachai Polite - OLB/Edge (Florida)
— 6’ 3” 250 pounds
— 11 sacks / 18 TFL in 2018
— First-Team All-SEC honors
— extreme explosiveness and speed
— elite twitter handle: @RetireMoms
pic.twitter.com/j9Pctv2G8o— IKE Packers Podcast (@IKE_Packers) December 5, 2018
2018 Stats: 45 tackles, 19.5 TFL, 11 sacks, 6 forced fumbles
Linebackers
Shaquille Quarterman, Miami
@CanesFootball linebacker Shaquille Quarterman is an interesting study. His 40-time is listed around 4.8s, yet he plays much faster than his time suggests as seen in this play running downhill . #CollegeFootball #CollegeGameday #MiamiU pic.twitter.com/edXENYUYLS
— Steelers Black and Gold Nation (@B_GNation1) November 2, 2018
2018 Stats: 82 tackles, 14 TFL, 5.0 sacks, 1 interception, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery
Michael Pinckney, Miami
Michael Pinckney WAS born for The Turnover Chain™ pic.twitter.com/0I6S0Wdeyv
— GO ‘CANES! (@83_87_89_91_01) June 24, 2018
2018 Stats: 74 tackles, 11 TFL, 3.5 sacks, 1 interception
Sage Lewis, FIU
CHAMPS 😎🤫🏆 pic.twitter.com/4yoZAxbZQF
— Conference USA (@ConferenceUSA) December 21, 2018
2018 Stats: 124 tackles, 4.5 TFL, 1.0 sacks, 8 passes defended, 1 fumble recovery, 1 touchdown
Defensive Backs
C.J. Henderson, Florida
C.J. Henderson is faster than a cheetah.
— Nick de la Torre (@delatorre) November 10, 2018
2018 Stats: 38 tackles, 5 TFL, 3.0 sacks, 2 interceptions, 5 passes defended, 2 forced fumbles
Richie Grant, UCF
“Our brotherhood is for real…Our group is relentless. We rally behind each other, we play for each other and we play for 10.” -Richie Grant pic.twitter.com/Kz0Cp8gBQi
— UCF Football (@UCF_Football) November 24, 2018
2018 Stats: 108 tackles, 3.0 TFL, 6 interceptions, 2 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery
Jaquan Johnson, Miami
Happy Birthday, Jaquan Johnson! https://t.co/w0dUpOUloO
— GO ‘CANES! (@83_87_89_91_01) November 6, 2018
2018 Stats: 92 tackles, 1.5 TFL, 2 interceptions, 2 forced fumbles
Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, Florida
Chauncey Gardner-Johnson! 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/ux7bJKb1AT
— WeAreDBnation (@WeAreDBNation1) December 29, 2018
2018 Stats: 71 tackles, 9.0 TFL, 3.0 sacks, 4 interceptions, 2 touchdowns
Special Teams
Kicker
Evan McPherson, Florida
Evan McPherson missed 2* field goals all-season and was perfect on PATs and couldn’t make SEC Freshman All-American?
The winner Seth Small missed seven field goals...
(*1)
— Dan Thompson (@DKThompson) December 6, 2018
2018 Stats: 17-for-19 field goals, 50-for-50 PATs
Punter
Tommy Townsend, Florida
IT’s a FAKE!!! @tommy_townsend takes off and gains 18 yards on it!!! pic.twitter.com/JAcOXAq75E
— InAllKindsOfWeather.com (@AllKindsWeather) October 13, 2018
2018 Stats: 51 punts, 2,315 yards, 45.4 yards per punt, 71-yard punt
Returners
Terrence Horne, USF
2018 Stats: 6 returns, 282 yards, 2 touchdowns, 47.0 yards per return
Jeff Thomas, Miami
2018 Stats: 10 kick returns, 260 yards, 26.0 yards per return; 9 punt returns, 221 yards, 1 touchdown, 24.6 yards per return
